The Sacrifice Part 4
Part 4 is the final part of the Sacrifice Comic, and was released on the 5th of October soon before the DLC itself. Plot Part 4 begins with Francis relaxing on a beach when a ship full of girls in bikinis ask for permission to board his island. Then Louis asks if they want to come to his island, which Francis responds with that no-one wants to go to his island. Francis brings the girls down and talks about his "Butler" who tells him to shut up so Francis advises to ignore him before Zoey starts calling Francis, waking him out of his sleep. They are back on the train, and Zoey tells him to back her up about Bill's decision to leave the Soldiers and Doctor to the Horde, but Francis goes right back to sleep. Zoey then proceeds to lecture Bill severely about said decision and says they should find more people like them to fight back. Bill stomps on this by saying the military locked them up and tried to kill them, explaining that they tried it "her" way. Then Bill talks about the Florida Keys where there will be nice weather all year around, plenty of hospitable islands, no Infected, army, or jail. He then flatly states that they must only look out for their own or die. Zoey then tells him that she is willing to die if it means fighting back and again, disagreeing with his "run off and leave everyone for dead" strategy. Then asks how many people he has left behind and how many more he will leave behind. Francis then nervously exclaims he will go and stay with Louis (something he believed he'd never say) and Zoey follows him, leaving Bill alone as a flashback begins. Bill is in a veteran's hospital and a resident asks him about any family coming to visit, earning a cold look from the war veteran. Bill then lights up a cigarette, much to the resident's distaste. Then Bill tells him to "practice" somewhere else. Time fast-forwards and Bill is on an operating table. A surgeon asks him to count down from ten while another one places a mask over him, making him lose consciousness. As Bill reaches eight, one of the Surgeons bends over and starts turning. He then starts attacking the other surgeon and Bill tells himself not to black out. The surgeon Infected then turns on Bill, but he manages to gain enough strength to kick its jaw off, allowing Bill to get up. Bill then bursts into a closet and looks for something sharp while the Common Infected gets to his feet. Bill spots a bonesaw and slices through the former surgeon. Time again fast-forwards and Bill is seen standing outside the hospital with the bonesaw and what appears to be a knife. He rushes home and finds his army equipment, along with an old army photo. After getting his clothes and equipment on, he grabs his Assault Rifle and heads back outside, firing at any Common Infected in range. The flashback ends, and they are on the streets of (presumably) Rayford, Georgia. Louis and Bill are talking about necessary items for the islands they plan to head to. Zoey and Francis hang back and Zoey asks when they were last this happy (Resulting in Francis saying when Louis taught him how to make a Pipe Bomb). Francis then asks Zoey if she is still mad with Bill, to which Zoey doesn't know the answer to. She explains that she loves Bill (while dispatching a Common Infected), but doesn't know him. Francis then begins listing negative things about Bill, to which Zoey asks for the positives. Francis pauses to shoot a Smoker and explains to her that the last guys he hung out with were good fun, but they would have been dead 2 weeks ago if he continued to hang with them. He then says Bill might not do the right thing all the time, but he does it for the right reasons. Louis then interrupts, saying he's found a yacht (To which Bill is uninterested, asking for a sailboat rather than a yacht). As Bill complains, Francis says to go along with it and volunteers to collect any Gas needed. As Louis tells Bill to loosen up, he is attacked, Francis tells him not to worry, and that he only fell 2 feet. Louis says something is pulling him down, which Francis acknowledges as gravity. Louis finally pulls himself free, then goes to check what it was exactly. He then promptly slams shut the lid after checking and requests a Molotov to be thrown in there. As Bill supports Louis, Francis repeatedly guesses a Witch attacked Louis as the yacht burns behind them. Louis partially acknowledges it as a picture is seen of heaps of Witches clad in bikinis inside, having already eviscerated the previous owner. They find another boat and Francis jokes about having Louis stick his leg in to check before Bill decides to go inside himself. Inside is a large armory of Weapons and Health Packs. As the others have a look inside, Francis comments on them trying to raise the bridge, suggesting every Infected in the city must have been summoned to the bridge making a loud noise. Bill simply grunts, and Francis catches on that that's what they're about to do. Bill tells them to make this quick and instructs Louis to stay with boat, which Louis rejects. Bill explains he has a badly injured leg, and Louis points out the previous person to stay with the boat, who has been dead for a while. Bill relents and shortly after, they are by the bridge and Bill tells Francis to hit the Button. Francis grumbles as he goes up and hits the Button, only for nothing to happen. Bill tells Francis to stay with Louis and Zoey to follow him. Zoey then finds a generator and calls Bill, saying it's ancient. No sooner does Zoey fire up the generator, than the infamous howling of a horde is heard throughout the Port. Bill tells Francis to try the button again, which he does and the bridge activates. Thousands of Common Infected are seen as the bridge raises. No sooner does Louis say they cannot be reached, than the generator breaks down. Francis announces that and four Tanks heading for the bridge. Louis says he has a bad feeling, but Francis tells him that they have survived worse than this, but Louis flatly states he would've given Francis a job. Louis asks them to kill him before they make it up, but Bill tells him to save it and jumps down into the horde, asking his teammates to cover him. Zoey calls for him, but Francis tells her to man her gun. Bill lights a Molotov with his cigarette and throws it at the four Tanks heading for him. Louis asks what he's doing, to which Zoey shouts he's luring all the Tanks to him and that he'll be killed. However, only three Tanks pursue Bill, the last one heading for the bridge as before. Francis says the bridge isn't high enough for the Tank before Louis says he hopes Bill can fire up the generator before the Tank figures it out. As soon as this is said, the Tank begins to climb the side of the bridge. Meanwhile, Bill is by the generator and is mentally telling himself to activate it, and not to let "her" down. Zoey shouts that Bill done it as the Tank falls just out of reach of the Bridge. Bill then thinks to himself that the Bridge looks a million miles away, but scolds himself for thinking like that, believing himself to be able to get back. The moment he starts running, he is immediately punched by a Tank into the generator room, sliding along the floor and smashing his back against a generator. As the three Tanks advance, he tells them to wait while he lights up a cigarette. Francis says he's tired of waiting and goes to find Bill. Zoey tells him that it's too late, but Francis refuses to believe until she says he did it for them and that if Francis goes down there, it will have been pointless. Francis reluctantly agrees. Zoey tells them to wait a bit until the horde disperses and then get Louis to the boat and get out. Finally, they are on the boat in the sunrise and heading for the Florida Keys as the comic ends. Notes * Four Tanks make an appearance simultaneously in the comic, which prior to The Sacrifice campaign, was impossible. * When Francis talks about the last group he was with, he refers to Zoey, Bill, and Louis as "You four". But he himself makes four. **This has since been corrected to "you three" in the comic. * A picture of Bill back in the army days is seen during his flashback. It should be noted that he once had reddish orange hair, but other than that, he looks mostly the same as he does now. He also uses the M16 Assault Rifle, the American-standard army rifle, which is one of Bill's preferred weapons in-game. * The yacht full of Witches in bikinis is a nod to what Francis was dreaming about at the beginning of Part 4 with the boat full of bikini girls. * In comic, Bill uses a bonesaw to kill some Infected. This is a possible reference to another popular Valve game, Team Fortress 2, where the Medic uses one as his default melee weapon. * During Bill's backstory, he was to undergo surgery prior to the outbreak. However, his operation was interrupted by a nurse-turned-Infected. This may be the reason he sacrificed himself without a second thought, as he may not have much longer to live anyways. ** On the other hand, Bill left with the intention of returning after the generator was reactivated; he may have gone due to the other Survivors' low morale. * The reason Louis had a leg injury in The Passing is explained: one of the many Witches found on a potentially available yacht wounded him when he went aboard to inspect it. * If the Survivors went directly to the boat after Bill's death, they would have never met the other Survivors. So The Passing evidently takes place between the horde dispersing and the original Survivors boarding ship and departure for the Florida Keys. ** In The Passing, one can see that the boat has been moved to the down-river, seaward side of the bridge. It is most likely that after The Sacrifice horde dispersed, the original survivors (Zoey and/or Francis covered by the immobile Louis) went down and moved the boat to the "safe" side of the raised bridge. Whilst this was going on, the new Survivors were presumably driving and fighting their way through the city towards the bridge. However a strange illogical anomaly exists because if they could have gotten down off the bridge to move the boat and back up on it again in time to meet the new Survivors, it also means there is no impediment to them re-stocking on ammunition which is odd because it contradicts what Francis says about being low on this commodity. ** Throughout the entire Sacrifice Comic, the Survivors do not encounter any of the "new" Special Infected at all. When the original Survivors meet up with the new Survivors, they do not remark about any of the new Special Infected other than occasionally calling out their names. * The Survivors' plan to find a boat and head to an island is maybe be a reference to the 2004 movie Dawn of the Dead in which the characters use a sail boat to make an (ultimately futile) island escape attempt. * As evidenced by episode four of The Sacrifice comic wherein they have adopted Bill's mantra that they look after their own and that no one gets left behind, it is presumed the three original Survivors intend to retrieve Bill's body so as to afford him an honorable and decent burial (Perhaps at sea). * It is unknown which of the three Survivors has at least some knowledge of yachting, generic ship-handling and coast-wise navigation. * The illustration on page 155 displays considerable artistic license by depicting tins of food etc. stored below decks on an ocean-going yacht but stacked up as though they were in the aisle of a supermarket. * If one looks closely, Bill's legs do not move after he is hit into the room. Given how he hit the machinery, he might have broken his spine on impact, rendering him unable to walk. External Links * Part 4